DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
This action is responsive to the following communication: an amendment filed on 12/16/2025.
Claims 1-9, 11-14, 16-20 are currently pending and presented for examination.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments with respect to prior art claims rejection filed on 12/16/2025 have been fully considered. The remarks with respect to independent claims 1 and 8 are persuasive . The prior art rejection is withdrawn. The remarks with respect to independent claim 14 are moot, because the arguments do not apply to the combination of the references being used in the current rejection.
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set
forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 12/16/2025 has been entered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 14,16,17,18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a) (1) as being anticipated by Achenbach (US Pub. No.: US 2014/0226012 A1).
Regarding claim 14, Achenbach discloses a method of assembling a bracket assembly for a vehicle (Para 13-15; A vehicular camera system can be installed on the inside of the front windshield of a vehicle, such as a car, truck, bus, or van; a mounting bracket 20 is configured to attach at the vehicle windshield), the method comprising:
providing a bracket body and a glare shield ( Para 19, 20; bracket 20 and shield 30);
providing a circuit carrier ( Para 19, 33; housing 26 that houses a camera 28 includes a main circuit board comprise a double sided PCB with circuitry and components established at both sides of the circuit board ; The aperture or opening or hole in the main circuit board provides for passage of the flexible connector through the circuit board so as to establish electrical connection to the opposite side of the main circuit board, and the aperture or opening or hole in the main circuit board also at least partially receives a portion of imager assembly (such as a portion of the imager circuit board and/or imager and/or lens holder and/or lens) to provide a lower profile camera system or module.) and a plurality of electrical devices ( Para 33-35; The vision system that utilizes the forward facing camera may also include one or more other imaging sensors or cameras (such as a rearward facing imaging sensor or camera and/or a forwardly facing camera at the front of the vehicle, and/or a sidewardly/rearwardly facing camera at the sides of the vehicle), which capture images exterior of the vehicle, with the cameras having a lens for focusing images at or onto an imaging array or imaging plane of the camera) , wherein the plurality of electrical devices are connected to the circuit carrier to form a circuit subassembly (Para 33-35; 46; wherein the camera may comprise a "smart camera" that includes the imaging sensor array and associated circuitry and image processing circuitry and electrical connectors and the like as part of a camera module; the camera module can be considered as subassembly);
attaching the circuit subassembly to the bracket body to form the bracket assembly (Para 23-27; the camera module and light shield construction or assembly may be attached at the bracket ) ,
wherein the circuit carrier and the plurality of electrical devices are directly attached to a first side of the bracket body ( Fig. 2; Para 19-20; wherein camera module 10 (includes housing 26 that houses a camera 28) is attached to bracket 20 via any suitable means ) ; and installing the bracket assembly to the vehicle ( Para 15, 20, 27; A pair of supports or structure 36 are provided at the bracket 20 to support a forward portion of the camera module when the camera module is mounted at the bracket. When so mounted at the bracket that is attached at the windshield of the vehicle, the stray light shield 30 is disposed generally at the in-cabin surface of the windshield so that the camera views through or across the recess established by the light shield and through the windshield. A mounting bracket 20 is configured to attach at the vehicle windshield, such as via direct adhesive attachment of the bracket to the windshield or via attachment of the bracket to one or more attaching elements that are adhesively attached at the windshield. The camera module 10 may be readily attached at the bracket (either before or after the bracket is attached at the windshield)).
Regarding claim 16, Achenbach discloses the method of claim 14, wherein each electrical device of the plurality of electrical devices is connected to the circuit carrier before being attached to the bracket body ( Para 15, 20, 27; A pair of supports or structure 36 are provided at the bracket 20 to support a forward portion of the camera module when the camera module is mounted at the bracket. When so mounted at the bracket that is attached at the windshield of the vehicle, the stray light shield 30 is disposed generally at the in-cabin surface of the windshield so that the camera views through or across the recess established by the light shield and through the windshield. A mounting bracket 20 is configured to attach at the vehicle windshield, such as via direct adhesive attachment of the bracket to the windshield or via attachment of the bracket to one or more attaching elements that are adhesively attached at the windshield. The camera module 10 may be readily attached at the bracket (either before or after the bracket is attached at the windshield); wherein the camera module connected to the mount already have the multiple cameras installed as shown in Fig. 2)
Regarding claim 17, Achenbach discloses the method of claim 14, wherein the electrical devices include at least one of a heater, a camera, a humidity sensor, a rain sensor, or a port (Para 27; The camera module 10 may be readily attached at the bracket).
Regarding claim 18, Achenbach discloses the method of claim 14, wherein the circuit carrier is attached to the first side of the bracket body by a fastener, wherein the first side is a bottom side (Fig. 6; Para 20; The camera module may attach at the bracket 20 via any suitable means, and may detachably attach so that the camera module may be detached for service or replacement while the bracket remains attached at the windshield surface. In the illustrated embodiment, the camera module 10 includes structure, such as, for example, protrusions 32 or the like, at its sides (and near the rear of the module) that are received in receptacles or receiving portions 34 of the bracket 20 when the camera module is mounted at the bracket. A pair of supports or structure 36 are provided at the bracket 20 to support a forward portion of the camera module when the camera module is mounted at the bracket ).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim 19 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Achenbach (US Pub. No.: US 2014/0226012 A1), in view of Bakatsias et al. (US Pub. No.: US 2015/0263442 A1).
Regarding claim 19, Achenbach discloses the circuit carrier (Para 19, 33; housing 26 that houses a camera 28 includes a main circuit board comprise a double sided PCB with circuitry and components established at both sides of the circuit board).
However, Achenbach does not disclose the circuit carrier includes a plurality of terminal blocks of different configurations.
Bakatsias et al. discloses the circuit carrier includes a plurality of terminal blocks of different configurations (Para 76; The bases 110 can be combined in any number to construct a terminal block array having a desired number of columns. The terminal blocks 101-106 provide the ability to selectively combine individual terminal blocks in both the horizontal and vertical directions allowing multiple rows of terminal blocks to be assembled and accessed; wherein the terminal block array can have a desired number of columns and rows which can allow different configuration with different desired number of columns.).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Achenbach with the teaching of Bakatsias to install multiple terminal blocks on the printed circuit board as disclosed in Achenbach in order to provide a secure, solderless, removable connection method for power supply and signal transmission and simplify installation and maintenance.
Regarding claim 20, Achenbach discloses wherein the circuit carrier includes a first circuitry on a first side of the circuit carrier and a second circuitry on a second side of the circuit carrier that is opposite the first side (Para 19, 33; housing 26 that houses a camera 28 includes a main circuit board comprise a double sided PCB with circuitry and components established at both sides of the circuit board).
However, Achenbach does not disclose wherein the first circuitry on a first side of the circuit carrier includes a first terminal block, a second circuitry on a second side of the circuit carrier includes a second terminal block.
Bakatsias et al. discloses terminal blocks can be installed in printed circuit board ( Para 76; multiple rows of terminal blocks to be assembled and accessed).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Achenbach with the teaching of Bakatsias to install multiple terminal blocks on both sides of the double sided printed circuit board as disclosed in Achenbach in order to provide a secure, solderless, removable connection method for power supply and signal transmission and simplify installation and maintenance for circuitries on both sides of the printed circuit board.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-9, 11-13 are allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claim 1, prior art on record Wang et al. (US Pub. No.: US 2020/0404138 A1) discloses a bracket assembly for a vehicle (Para 56; vehicular camera system or module 10 configured to be attached in a front-facing manner to a vehicle) , the bracket assembly comprising:
a bracket body having a glare shield (Para 72; camera housing 12 and frame 60 that has a stray light shield or light baffle; Para 59; main circuit board 16); and
an electrical device ( Para 62; imager assembly 24 ) , wherein the electrical device is connected to the bracket body (Fig 5A; Para 62; The imager 26 is connected to an imager circuit board 30 (such as a PCB) ) .
Kirchhoff et al. (US Pub. No.: US 2022/0009424 A1) discloses a bracket body having a circuit (Fig. 3; Para 15, Para 31, 34-36 The mount 110 has a printed circuit board 405 for this, with ports for the lines 325. ) ; wherein the electrical device is electrically connected to the circuit of the bracket body ( Para 31-36; at least one second camera 305 is contained in the mount 110. The at least one second camera 305 can be designed as a replacement for a mirror in or on the vehicle, as specified in guideline 2003/97/EG. For this, the second camera 305 is configured to record a field of vision of one or more main rear view mirrors and a wide angle outer rear view mirror. Additionally or alternatively, the second camera 305 can also be configured to record a field of vision of an oncoming traffic outer mirror. By placing the printed circuit board 405 in the mount 110, it is possible to prevent bending the cables 325 as they pass from the mount into the cockpit in the vehicle, in that the cables 325 are conducted to the printed circuit board 405 in the mount 110. This also shortens the lines 325, making the signal transfer from the camera 125 and antenna more stable) .
However, the prior art does not teach “ wherein the circuit comprises a plurality of conductive leads integrally formed and non-removably coupled within a top side and a bottom side of the bracket body and extending along the bracket body” in combination of other limitation in the claim.
Claims 2-7 are allowed as being dependent from claim 1.
Regarding claim 8, prior art on record Wang et al. (US Pub. No.: US 2020/0404138 A1) discloses a bracket assembly for a vehicle (Para 56; vehicular camera system or module 10 configured to be attached in a front-facing manner to a vehicle), the bracket assembly comprising:
a bracket body having a leading end (Fig. 5A; front side of cover 12a wherein the camera lens is facing towards to ) and a trailing end opposite the leading end (Fig. 5A; back end of cover 12a that is behind the camera lens) , wherein the trailing end is configured to be positioned rearwardly of the leading end relative to a front of the vehicle (Figs. 37-40; wherein the front side of the cover 12a (wherein the camera lens faces towards to ) is attached to the vehicle windshield) ; and
a circuit subassembly that is configured to be attached to the bracket body (Para 59; main circuit board 16; Fig. 5A; wherein the circuit board will be attached to the covers), the circuit subassembly comprising:
an electrical device (Para 62; The imager assembly 24);
and a circuit carrier extending along the trailing end or the leading end of the bracket body ( Para 62; PCB 16 is extended along the trailing end and attached to the housing) , wherein the electrical device (Fig. 4C; Para 63; wherein the imager 26 is connected to PCB 30 that is connected to connector 38 and terminator 36) is electrically connected to a terminal block (Fig. 4C; terminator block 26) provided on the circuit carrier (Para 62; PCB 16) to form the circuit subassembly that is attached to a bottom side or a top side of the bracket body (Fig. 4C; wherein the imager and terminator are connected to the lower cover 12b).
Prior art on record Oh (US Pub. No.: US 2016/0229346 A1 ) discloses a glare shield integrally formed with the bracket body ( Fig. 3; Para 50; 64; pair of light shield members 141A and 141B. The light shield bracket 30 is provided with a pair of light shield members 141A and 141B disposed between the camera holder 130 and the windshield 10).
However, the prior art does not disclose “a heater electrically coupled to the glare shield, and wherein the terminal block of the circuit carrier is electrically coupled to the heater” in combination of other limitation in the claim.
Claims 9,11-13 are allowed as being dependent from claim 8.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to XI WANG whose telephone number is (469)295-9155. The examiner can normally be reached on 9:00 am-5:00 pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, SINH TRAN can be reached on 571-272-7564. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/XI WANG/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2637